2026 ICHSA Mid-Atlantic Semifinal @ Ramsey High School

DEAR FRIENDS,

Welcome to Varsity Vocals’ 30th season! After more than a quarter century of presenting the best student groups on the stage and in the studio, our enthusiasm for the art of a cappella is greater than ever.

Our tournaments have grown from a handful of events to the massive showcase they are today, currently featuring more than 730 groups and around 12,000 singers at over 85 events across North America and the United Kingdom.

Our original tournament inspired the hit movie, "Pitch Perfect," based on the nonfiction book documenting the true story of rival groups competing in our very own ICCA. The "Pitch Perfect" franchise remains the highest-grossing cinematic musical series of all time.

Despite the incredible growth and mainstream popularity we’ve enjoyed, our focus remains sharply on the promotion and development of the talent that crosses our stage. We believe competition fosters growth, as groups work together toward a specific goal and cultivate lifelong skills and relationships.

We provide insightful feedback from our highly qualified judges, but more importantly, our singers get to connect with a larger audience from across the country, learning from their peers and finding inspiration from other groups.

We have seen a cappella make great strides from where it began on our stage 30 years ago and can’t wait to see how our 2026 competitors continue to push the envelope. Committed to promoting our singers and energized by the incredible music they create, we look forward to another memorable season. Thank you for joining us!

Sincerely,

Amanda Newman
Executive Director

ICHSA MID-ATLANTIC SEMIFINAL

Ramsey High School
Saturday, March 28th, 2026

WE'RE SOCIAL

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ABOUT VARSITY VOCALS

Since 1996, we have encouraged students worldwide to sing a cappella throughout their lives. Our programs include both the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), and the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA). We also annually produce The Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) and The Best of High School A Cappella (BOHSA) compilation albums.

Our a cappella competitions give top-notch a cappella groups the opportunity to showcase their talents for an international audience and to take home valuable feedback from our qualified judges. This year, competing groups will appear in venues all around the world, offering their energetic musical performances for your enjoyment.

The high school tournament is now in its 21st year. The winners of each of seven Semifinal rounds will advance to the ICHSA Finals at The Town Hall in New York City on Friday, April 24th.

The college tournament, now in it's 30th year, takes place from January through April in nine regions across the country and around the world. Each region holds four or five Quarterfinals, and the top groups from each Quarterfinal advance to the Semifinal. The winning group at each Semifinal is named Regional Champion and advances to the ICCA Finals at The Town Hall in New York City on Saturday, April 25th.

For a full tournament schedule, visit us at www.varsityvocals.com/events

ABOUT TONIGHT'S SHOW

The performance order was determined by random draw this afternoon and will be announced from stage.

Tonight’s performers will be evaluated on elements of their vocal and visual performance, which carry numerical weight. The highest and lowest score from the individual judges will be dropped for each group. Our judges may recognize exceptional performances with special awards as they see fit.

There will be a 15-minute intermission. After the final group has performed, a guest performer will entertain you while the scores are tabulated.

Because each group only has 10 minutes to perform, we ask you to keep your applause to an enthusiastic minimum between songs. Please feel welcome to applaud as much as you want after each group has finished its set.

Videotaping and non-flash photography for personal use is permitted during the concert, so long as you do not disrupt our performers or other patrons. Due to licensing regulations, we do not provide a video or audio recording of this performance.

TONIGHT'S COMPETITORS

The Ridgewood High School AcaBellas is an all-female a cappella group made up of passionate and independent musicians from the choir, band, and orchestra programs. They were founded in 2011 and annually compete in the ICHSA. They perform at school functions, including sporting events, assemblies, and notably Valentine's Day, when they serenade students with singing grams. They enjoy singing songs performed and arranged by women from all eras. You can support them at their school a cappella concerts and check out their live performances on Spotify.

The Wootton Acatonics is the award-winning all-gender a cappella group from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, Md. The Acatonics have been fortunate to attend and place at national competitions, including the ICHSA and at SingStrong New York. Last year, they also released an EP, titled Don’t You Understand, on all streaming platforms and were proud to win a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARA) for Best Debut Album, along with a featured track on BOHSA 2025. Most importantly, The Acatonics are thankful for the family this group has created and the community it provides them at school. They are directed by Wootton High School choral director, Keith Schwartz.

Highlands Voices hails from Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, N.J. The Voices have been ICHSA Champions, seven time Mid-Atlantic Champions, and National A Cappella Convention (NACC) Champions. They were featured on the Lifetime series, “Pitch Slapped,” and can be seen (and heard) in the movie “Marry Me,” starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson, and in Season 3 of “American Horror Stories.” They have performed workshops for NAfME, NJMEA, AEA, ACDA, and Bergen Teen Arts, and host the annual Highlands A Cappella Festival, which attracts some of the biggest a cappella coaches in the world as instructors. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube @highlandsvoices!

LumeNAtion is from Newark Academy in Livingston, N.J. These 18 hardworking and dedicated students are happy to return to this year’s ICHSA after making it to Semifinals last year. Although LumeNAtion rehearses for only 90 minutes a week, they really lock in together and their director, Jack Bender, is extremely proud of them!

The Maroon Men is a competitive all-male a cappella group from Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, N.J. This group was established in the fall 2010 to get more guys interested in joining the choir program, and has since become an RHS staple. They are proud to compete in the ICHSA every year alongside their sibling groups, The AcaBellas and The Rhapsodies. All group members, past and present, proudly carry the tradition of singing that good ol' harmony, soul to soul and brother to brother. Catch The Maroon Men singing at various events and concerts for the rest of this season and beyond, and as always, "that a cappella sounds good to me!"

Mpulse, from Montville, N.J., is competing for their third consecutive year! They are so excited to be back on the ICHSA stage after winning Quarterfinals for the last two years. Mpulse believes that creating music offers incredible learning opportunities for the self and the world!

The Ram Jams is the principal competitive a cappella group within the Ramsey High School Choral Program. Established in 2016, this group represents the top auditioned students from the chorus program and performs music from a wide variety of genres, including contemporary a cappella, classical choral repertoire, and original pieces. A yearly competitor in ICHSA, they have advanced all the way to ICHSA Finals in New York several times since 2020. Outside of competition, The Ram Jams have been invited to perform in many concerts and festivals, including invitations to the American Choral Directors Association Eastern conference, and as the first-ever student group featured at the New Jersey Music Educators Conference Gala concert. The Ram Jams have produced multiple albums and their recordings are featured on several of Varsity Vocals’ BOHSA albums. They released their most recent album, Unchained, in fall 2024 and a single, “Symptom of Life,” in fall 2025.

Sol, by definition, means “sun,” as well as a pitch on the solfege scale. To this group, however, it means so much more. Sol means joy, pride, acceptance, family, and a bright passion for music. They feel that their close-knit relationship and soulful connection as a group enables them to create their best art. They hope that their set showcases how a small bunch of choir kids can make a family. They are solmates!

Stay Tuned, from Cherry Hill East High School, has experienced wild success since its inception in 2012. In 2016, they were featured on an eight-week Lifetime docuseries, “Pitch Slapped,” where they were coached by Deke Sharon, famed music director and arranger of the “Pitch Perfect” franchise. Stay Tuned has performed at the Kimmel Center, Lincoln Financial Field, The Town Hall, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall alongside the cast of the “Pitch Perfect” movies. Most recently, Stay Tuned has competed in two ICHSA Finals competitions with top groups from across the nation in New York City. While Stay Tuned has enjoyed national success, sharing their love and passion for music with their local community of friends and supporters has always been their No. 1 priority. The members of Stay Tuned are thankful for every performance opportunity and strive to inspire and bring joy to their audiences.

Carteret High School's Varsity Vocals is proud to represent their school at ICHSA again this year. Since their start in 2015, they have been active in New Jersey, performing at festivals, competitions, community events, and more. CHS Varsity Vocals is thankful to have advanced to ICHSA Semifinals for the past two years and won Outstanding Soloist in their 2025 Quarterfinal.

GUEST PERFORMER

Regan Vintaloro is a student songwriter and creative based in New Jersey. She studied songwriting at Interlochen Center for the Arts and is the founder and president of her school’s songwriting club. Outside of school, she runs open mic nights at Mindful Café, helping build a local community around live music and original work. Regan is focused on collaboration, live performance, and developing new creative voices.

TONIGHT'S JUDGES

Kevin DeLisa is a charismatic, well-rounded vocal educator with a bachelor's degree in music education from Ithaca College and a master’s degree in music and music education from Columbia University. He has taught in a wide variety of musical spaces throughout his young career, allowing for a sense of diversity in educational thought. Kevin’s pedagogy for music education through an instrumental, vocal, and theoretical basis all prove to give high-level musicianship, community, and performance opportunities for his students. Kevin has also been nationally recognized for his vocal and a cappella arrangements, including a 2018 ICCA award for Outstanding Arrangement and a 2021 CARA for Best Male Collegiate Arrangement. He has written over 90 vocal arrangements for collegiate, professional, and high school ensembles, all of which return with high praise of engraving, voice leading, and enjoyment. His writing style focuses on cohesion of line for the performers, without sacrificing intrigue and emotional development for the audience. His scoring is succinct, advanced, and comprehensive for any level of performance.

Alex Green is a recording engineer, producer, and arranger from New York City. He is a graduate of Tufts University with a dual degree in music and archeology. There, he was a member of The Tufts Amalgamates, with whom he sang, directed, and recorded 2011′s CARA-winning Hands Off The Mannequin. He is a co-owner and producer at Plaid Productions, a full-service a cappella production company with dual home bases in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Somerville, Mass. Alex shares two RIAA-certified Platinum and Billboard-charting albums with Ed Boyer and Ben Bram for his work with Pentatonix, while other clients of Plaid Productions have had songs featured on SING, BOCA, and Voices Only, garnering over 100 CARA nominations. Since graduating in 2010, he has regularly served as a masterclass leader and instructor at a cappella festivals nationwide, sung with Overboard (Boston), and written for the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB).

Melissa Jordano is a singer, songwriter, teaching artist, and co-president of Backtrack Vocals, a professional a cappella group based in New York City. Raised in Basking Ridge, N.J., she earned her B.A. in film & media studies, with minors in applied mathematics and entrepreneurship and management, from Johns Hopkins University, where her passion for contemporary a cappella and storytelling took root and flourished as a member of the competitive co-ed group, Octopodes. Since joining Backtrack Vocals in 2015, Melissa helped the group evolve from a viral online project into a professional touring ensemble. With Backtrack, she has led workshops and clinics at hundreds of schools, inspiring students through accessible, high-energy music education. As a songwriter, she continues to develop her voice as a solo artist, highlighted by her debut EP, Lullabye (2021). Building on her commitment to arts education, Melissa founded and serves as Executive Director of the The Grant-a-Song Foundation, a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit expanding access to fully funded arts programs for Title I schools. The organization is actively seeking founding funders to help scale its impact and bring transformative music education to more communities. Learn more or donate at grantasong.org

Sean Patrick Riley has worked for the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA) on the social media and talent teams for ACappellaFest, SoJam, the Los Angeles A Cappella Festival (LAAF), and Boston Sings (BOSS), and has served in CASA's ambassador program for the past seven years. He holds a bachelor's degree in both music and communication, as well as a master’s degree in nursing from Saint Louis University. At SLU, Sean served as music director and business manager of recent ICCA Finalists, The Bare Naked Statues, and was featured on the Voices Only and BOCA compilations. Sean coaches a cappella groups across the country, and is the camp nurse and counselor for the L.A.-based summer camp, A Cappella Academy. He is a nurse practitioner for the Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health Babs Siperstein PROUD Center.

Meredith Strang has been active in the a cappella community as a singer, arranger, judge, director, and group mentor for nearly 30 years. She is currently the music director for TrebleNYC, which appeared in the movie, “How to Be Single.” During her college years, she directed The University of Delaware Deltones, who went on to be cast on NBC's “The Sing-Off.” Meredith is a member of the CASA and was a producer for CASA’s VoCALnation Festival, featuring headliners The Swingle Singers and Duwende. On the choral front, she was a member of the New York Choral Society with performances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. In addition to her love of a cappella, Meredith is in a jazz band and has done backing vocals for artists such as Phillip Phillips, A Great Big World, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.

SPECIAL THANKS

Varsity Vocals would like to recognize and thank the Ramsey Board of Education, Superintendent Andrew Matteo, Principal Michael Thumm, the Ramsey Chorus Parent Association, and the RHS Facilities department; our judges, hosts, competitors, volunteers, partners, and producers; and you, the audience, for supporting Varsity Vocals programming.

Amanda Newman
Executive Director

Elise Hackl-Blumstein
ICHSA Director
PA/MA Program Coordinator

Dave Rabizadeh
ICCA Director

Emily Sucher
Director of Publications

Lucy Jacobs
Senior Producer, ICCA & ICHSA West

Lindsay Howerton-Hastings
Senior Producer, ICCA South

Arvin Zabalerio
Senior Producer, ICCA Central

Gemma Witham
Producer, ICCA United Kingdom

Rebecca Williamson
Producer, ICCA Northeast

Adam McNeil
Producer, ICHSA Great Lakes

Valentyna Simon
Producer, ICHSA West

Ben Garza
Producer, ICHSA Southwest

Bryce McCracken
Associate Producer, ICCA Central

Angelina Corbin
Associate Producer
ICCA & ICHSA South

Sara Yood
Senior Producer, ICCA & ICHSA Finals

Emily Flanders
Director of Adjudication
Senior Producer, ICCA Great Lakes

Andrew Poole
Director of Digital Media

Charlotte Taylor
Marketing & Social Strategy

Holli Kitching
Senior Producer, ICCA Mid-Atlantic

Leah Alrutz
Senior Producer, ICCA Midwest

Alaina Wegner
Producer, ICCA Southwest

Christopher Witham
Producer, ICCA United Kingdom

Jillian Kimberlin
Senior Producer, ICHSA Mid-Atlantic

Christopher Hoffman
Producer, ICHSA Northeast

Jake Yoakum
Producer, ICHSA West

Nicole Palmetto
Associate Producer, ICCA Northeast

Tyandria Jaaber
Associate Producer, ICCA Mid-Atlantic

McKinley Thoreson
Associate Producer
ICHSA Great Lakes

OUR TEAM

We have an amazing team of people who work tirelessly to make our programs so valuable for our singers and audiences alike — and they all do it while holding down full-time day jobs, too!

The top placing group at this event will advance to the 2026 ICHSA Finals

BRING THE HARMONY HOME

Find your favorite groups on The Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) and The Best of High School A Cappella (BOHSA), available for purchase on Apple Music and Amazon Music!

VIEW ALBUMS

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